


Choking On My Words Around You

by I_Can_Vibe_With_That



Series: Voltron Oneshots [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), M/M, Pining, Post-Break Up, Spies & Secret Agents, Technically he is, This is gonna be kinda angsty but i dont know how much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 22:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19029208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Can_Vibe_With_That/pseuds/I_Can_Vibe_With_That
Summary: “That guy is Keith Kogane, the worst mistake of my life.”-As an L.R agent of Voltron, Lance's life is good. Yeah, he has his regrets and he definitely has his fair share of demons to contend with, but his life is pretty great overall.He thought nothing could ruin what he'd built up for himself, but when Shiro's promotion came around and they were forced to find  a new A.R recruit, some of his regrets come back to haunt him.





	Choking On My Words Around You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure what this is. I got this idea from reading break up fics, and then this happened. I hope you enjoy!

Pidge rolled her eyes.

 

Lance was being chatty and mouthing off as always. Honestly, it’s a wonder he’s never been caught or found out while on a mission.

 

He was on a mission now, infact. Ever since Shiro had been promoted to the Head of their squad, they’d been debating on who would be the new A.R. Afterall, they couldn’t just have Lance as their only **Right**. A few weeks ago, Shiro had finally gotten a recruit approved to join them. Lance was just going to meet him.

 

As usual, Pidge was backing Lance as his surveillance. Sometimes it would be Hunk, but as Pidge was the team’s A.L, she was the most equipped to be on mic.

 

She was going to be leading Lance through a _very_ high end alien gala this time. Apparently, their new recruit was a pretty prolific agent, having made it rather high up in the Marmora branch, despite only being a few months older than Hunk. Pidge didn’t even have proper access to his file, not that she hadn’t tried to get her hands on it, but the Marmora division had some serious security. All she got was what they’d given her, the guy’s codename, the way they’d be able to identify him, and a picture of him.

 

“-and really I think I should have gotten all, or at least most of the credit for that, because, he didn’t even do anything. If it hadn’t been for my shooting and my **original** plan, we’d have both died. And-!”

 

“ **BLUE** ! As much as I _love_ hearing about how the institution keeps fucking you over, we have a job to do.”

 

There was silence over the comms. Pidge could hear the squeaking of Lance shifting around on his seat.

 

“... Sorry. I’m just so bored. Why do I even have to do a pick up anyway? What, this big, bad, Blade can’t fly his way back to the Voltron HQ by himself?”

 

Pidge rolled her eyes again. Lance was just upset that he didn’t get to work side by side with his hero anymore. While Shiro was still a part of their squadron, him being the Head meant that he’d be pulled from the field unless it was absolutely necessary.

 

“Marmora has him on an infiltration assignment. He doesn’t even know he’s switching divisions. You know the Marmora, they see all their agents as disposable; after they get their missions they get cut off from almost all communication. It’s why they have the highest mission success rate but also the highest agent mortality.”

 

Lance was silent, so she tapped into the security cameras of the building the gala was being held at. The gala seemed to have already started, but that was okay. There was only about a hundred guests there - the attendance list had reported well over a thousand- with about a dozen humanoid but not quite human looking races. The guy they were after was distinctly human looking, so it was easy for Pidge to spot him. He looked to be in a rather high position of power, hanging around the host of the party and dressed in almost finer clothes than the alien. Who was this guy?

 

“Hey, **Green**?”

 

“Hmm?” She cycled through all the cameras, just to check that they were working.

 

“Can I get a look at this guy? Y’know, so I know who I’m looking for?”

 

She considered this. Lance was a good agent, probably one of the best Voltron had (though she’d never tell him), but he had a few problems. And a major one was people he found attractive. Pidge had known Lance long enough to know what his type was, and this new A.R was _exactly_ the type of guy Lance would get distracted by if he saw him. Everyone agreed that it was a better idea if Lance didn’t have time to think up awful lines, or even worse, think himself into a spiral preparing to impress someone. It had happened when they were going to meet the leader of the Coalition, Allura, and Lance had fumbled so bad Allura looked up his file to make sure he was actually who he said he was supposed to be.

 

“No.”

 

“What? Why not?”

 

“Don’t worry about it. All you need to know is that this guy is human looking and acting as the hosts date, or at least one of them-”

 

“Oh fuck the host then,”

 

“And he has, or at least should have a clip on his lapel that has two light purple parallel lines, kind of like on the masks of the Blades. But yeah, fuck the host. In his personal transmissions he refers to them as the equivalent of ‘concubines’ in his language, like a creep.”

 

“Eugh.”

 

Pidge heard him shift in his seat again. She turned towards the screen on her left. It had a map of the limos route and kept her updated on traffic conditions. The driver had something similar, making the drive as short as possible. The blue dot representing their position was almost to the marker of the gala. “Oh, heads up. Your ETA is 30 seconds,”

 

“ **GREEN**! A little warning next time!” She could hear what sounded like frantic scrambling over the comms.

 

“I gave you a thirty-second warning,”

 

“A longer warning,” he grumbled. More shuffling sounds were coming from the comms. Lance must have been doing last minute adjustments to his appearance. He didn’t need a disguise, but it was a high-class event, so his extra prepping made sense. Pidge remembered a mission where Lance hadn’t fixed his hair before heading to a rich private party, and the guards hadn’t even bothered to look at the attendance before turning him away. Shiro had to do that mission solo.

 

“Okay **Green** , we’re pulling up to the front. Do you have visuals?”

 

She switched to a view of the front of the building. She could see the limo Lance was in and watched as he stepped out. Dressed in his formal wear, Lance didn’t look at all out of place at this gala. Even his hair had been straightened and slicked back.

 

Although, she guessed he wasn’t technically out of place at this gala. From what she could tell, all these aliens were from the same type of socio-economic class as Lance had been raised in.

 

“Yeah, I see you. You’re good to go in.”

 

“Roger that. I’m gonna turn off the comms for a bit. The guards at the front are scanning people.”

 

Pidge made a noise of confirmation. A lot of rich parties throughout the galaxies had this. The guards would scan for unauthorized tech to keep the rest of the party goers and their secrets safe. Luckily, as long as they were off, the comms only registered as jewelry. Thank all the deities for Altean tech.

 

There was a small _blip,_ and she watched as he walked up to the entrance and talked to the guard. The guard scanned him, a horizontal line of blue light running down his body. This time, the guard let him in no problem. She switched to one of the inside cameras. A lot more people had arrived since she last checked. The large hall was teeming with guests dressed in fine clothing. Although it seemed the party was being kept to the ground floor, as she couldn’t see anyone on the above floor, and there was no one going up or down the grand staircase that made up the middle portion of the back wall.

 

Lance smiled at the other people inside and made his way to the food table. He began to construct a plate, turning on his comms as he did so.

 

“Alright I’m good.” His mouth didn’t move, it was just slightly open. Pidge made a face. Even if it was a super useful skill, it was kind of unnerving that he could do that, especially because of how expressive his mouth usually was.

 

“Okay,” she scanned through the rest of the camera feeds until she spotted their target. “He’s nearer to the back of the hall. He and the host are sitting on some couches talking to some of the guests. Although, I’d suggest going around and talking to some of the others there; if you go directly there it may seem suspicious. You’re in friendly territory-’

 

“But it’s safer if I don’t take chances, I got it.”

 

Pidge watched as he smiled and chatted his way across the hall. This had to be one of Lance’s greatest skills as an agent, his ability to just blend in to any crowd and speak with anyone. It’s why he was chosen to be a L.R, even though he had applied to be an A.R. That’s not to say he _couldn’t_ be an A.R, he’d done fine for the few months that they didn’t have one, but he really shined on assignments like this.

 

Lance was leading around a group of charmed strangers at this point. She’d laughed at his when he’d claimed to be a “ladies’ man, but for everyone, an everyone’s man”(his words). Over the course of the past 3 years, she’d begrudgingly eaten her words, but, as one of his best friends, one of them would have to be dying before she’d compliment him.

 

He was telling a fantastical story about himself. A story about a young man from a rich family, suffering through the hardships of private school and finally clawing his way to the top, succeeding and graduating top of his class. He spoke of how everyone underestimated him and told him he 'couldn't do it!' and how he proved them wrong by starting his own company and making himself a small fortune by the young age of 22. And at 24, he couldn't be happier.

 

Pidge knew this story. She'd been part of it. They had gone to the same private school and she had watched as Lance worked his ass off to finish and finish with good grades. By all means, nothing he was saying was false, he even did have a business under a pseudonym, filling his bank account. But the way he said it was so different from how she knew him and that story to be that it was kind of funny. The fancy rich people were eating it up.

 

She suspected that the 2 and a half hours it had taken him to make his way to the corner with couches was longer than Lance wanted to take. He kept trying to leave, but the group he had obtained kept pulling him back to talk. It was kind of funny to watch.

 

Finally, he managed to get away with a quick “I'm sorry, but I forgot to greet the host,” and a promise to come back afterwards. The crowd groaned, telling him how much they wished he’d stay, and lord almighty, were they whiny. Pidge would never get rich people, despite coming from a rather well off family herself.

 

“Now that that’s over,” Pidge snorted, as if he hadn’t loved the attention. “Where’s the mark?”

 

Pidge took a look at the camera feeds. Their mark hadn’t moved from his position beside the host. Actually, he seemed to be a bit farther from the host, positioned as far away from him as possible without seeming suspicious. Two of the hosts four hands were on the couch between them, clearly reaching to grab the target's thigh.

 

“To the left of the giant staircase, in the corner, is a group of couches. The target’s on the middle one, beside the host. You might wanna hurry it up, our ‘gracious host’ is getting a bit grope-y.”

 

“Roger that, but also, seriously, fuck that guy.”

 

She watched him walk towards the corner, brushing passed the rest of the guests. As he got in range of the couches, she saw him tense up and heard him quickly suck in a breath. Instead of going into the ring of couches, he darted off to the side and leaned against one of the many large pantheon-esqe columns lining the sides of the room, hiding himself from view of the target. She could hear him swallowing, and he had a very obviously distressed face on. It was so obvious that some of the other guests were even asking him if something was wrong. He waved them off, saying something about bad food, but even his reassuring smiles were coming off like grimaces.

 

“ **Blue** , what’s wrong?”

 

“You guys should have shown me a picture,”

 

“ **Blue** , what are you-”

 

“You should have shown me and then made Shiro take this fucking job. Or just not have wanted to recruited him in general.”

 

He was still hiding behind the pillar, his head was down and his voice was sounding bitter. She could see him scrubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands.

 

“ **Green** , which is the target?”

 

“ **Blue** , you could see him if you just turned-”

 

“Just tell me, **Green**.”

 

His voice made her pause. She’d heard him be bitter before, that wasn’t surprising, but now, he sounded angry. Angry and bitter, and something else she couldn’t place. She could even see that Lance's mouth was moving, even if only a little. This reaction was so abnormal. Again, who was this guy?

 

“... The guy in the dark red.” There was another sharp intake of breath. Lance had closed his eyes.

 

Pidge continued. “ He’s human presenting, asian. Long, black hair, he has dark grey eyes-”

 

A huff from Lance, almost a laugh. “Actually they’re more of an indigo.”

 

“ **Blue** , who is that guy?”

 

“That guy?” Lance looked up, right into the camera, somehow locking eyes with Pidge through the feed.

 

“That guy is Keith Kogane, the worst mistake of my life.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Lance grimaced. Pidge hadn’t responded, and he really hoped she wouldn’t ask.

 

He glanced at his watch. It was nearly 9 by now. While the mission didn’t have a strict time limit, it was always better if it was done earlier than later.

 

He took a deep breath. The mission was more important than his stupid feelings. He checked his appearance in the reflection of his phone, thankful for the extra strong hair gel he had used in his hair.

 

“Okay, I’m going in.”

 

“ **_Blue_ ** _,_ ”

 

But he ignored her. He took another breath and stepped out from behind the pillar. He turned towards the group of couches.

 

_Fuck._

 

He was still just as breathtaking as before. That stupid hairstyle, and those impossibly coloured eyes. Although, his annoyingly flawless skin didn’t seem as flawless as before. Two dark marks cut through the seemingly perfect skin underneath either of his eyes. They trailed down his cheeks and neck, disappearing under the collar of his shirt. Lance thought they looked like scars.

 

Lance had never seen him dressed like this before though. He was dressed fancy, like everyone else in the group, but unlike everyone else’s typical black and white attire, he was wearing a fine, dark red suit, with a black dress shirt and a white tie. He could see the twin purple lines of his tie clip in stark contrast to the white of his tie. He was wearing rings.

 

The host noticed him a second before Keith did.

 

“Ah! A new comer! And who might you be?” The host was eyeing him, looking him up and down. Lance almost grimaced.

 

“Nadio Sanchez, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Lance stuck out his hand to shake, but the host grabbed it weirdly. He turned Lance’s hand over and licked the inside of his wrist before letting go.

 

“An’glo Fo. And the pleasure is all mine. Now, sit with us, and we’ll talk.”

 

“I would, but there’s no room-”

 

“Nonsense! There’s room right beside me and Tyne!” The alien gestured to the couch he and Keith were sitting on.

 

_Tyne?_

 

Both An’glo and Keith moved to the sides, allowing Lance to sit between them. To an outsider, Keith would look shy, and almost demure as he smiled slightly at Lance and then looked away. But Lance could see the clench of his jaw, and could see the way he was scratching at his fingertips. It was one of the things he did when he was stressed.

 

-

 

An’glo Fo and the rest of the group on the couches kept up their conversation for nearly two hours more. They kept Lance engaged, but the later it got, the more he wanted to just grab Keith and leave.

 

Luckily for Lance, and perhaps unluckily for Keith, the alien noticed how Lance’s attention kept drifting to Keith.

 

“Isn’t he beautiful?” An’glo asked, leaning over Lance’s shoulder, both looking at where Keith had gone to get some food. “I bought him from Moor for only 300 000 qours, I practically stole him.” The alien sounded almost gleeful at the fact that he’d bought another person.

 

Keith was coming back to the couches. “Do you like him? I wouldn’t mind sharing him with someone like you…” the host ran the back of it finger along his jaw.

 

“Tyne! Fia, how would you like to spend the night with Nadio here?” he asked as Keith sat down and set his food on the small table.

 

“If it makes you happy, Nahm, I’d love to.” Keith sounded different. His voice was softer, not having that fiery edge Lance remembered.

 

“Look at him, so good,” An’glo looked at the projected stats above the middle of the ballroom. “Oh! It’s passed wa’ahst. Fia, why don’t you show Nadio a proper welcome, hmm?”

 

Keith nodded, grabbing his hand and leading him towards the giant staircase. “Come on Nadio Sanchez, let me welcome you properly.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

**_Smack!_ **

 

Pidge had been quiet for the majority of the interaction, but now she made her presence known.

 

“What the fuck! Dude, did he just punch you in the face?!”

 

Lance rubbed the side of his face. It throbbed to the touch. _Sorry Pidge_. He turned off his comms unit. This wasn’t a conversation for her to hear.

 

“Yeah, I probably deserved that.”

 

Keith had taken them onto the second floor and down several halls, pulling him into a small room. He was standing in front of Lance, glowering at him.

 

“Yeah. No fuck.” _Ah, there was the edge._

 

He stepped closer, backing Lance against wall, snarling. In the back of his mind, he noted that Keith was still significantly smaller than him.

 

“What the **fuck** are you doing here.”

 

Lance was looking down his nose at Keith’s face. He hadn’t noticed before, but there were a lot of subtle differences about him. Those markings on his face were just that, markings, not scars. His face had lost some of the roundness, making it sharper and more angular. His hair was more of a dark purple than a black, and it seemed thicker and more textured. His teeth, those canines that had been just shy of unnaturally sharp were basically fangs. His eye colour had unsettled. Flashing between indigo and grey and purple.

 

“I’m on a mission,” he put his hands between them, meaning to push Keith back by his shoulders, but Keith was several feet back before he could touch.

 

“What mission? Does Marmora know that you were coming to fuck up mine?” Keith had crossed his arms over his chest, looking even more standoffish than when they had first met.

 

Lance stood up straight. “Yeah, actually.” He walked forwards. “You’re switching divisions. This mission's over.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You’re the new A.R in our squadron. You’re part of Voltron now, I was sent here to bring you back to HQ.”

 

“Like I’m going to just take your word for it. Voltron and Marmora might both be under the Coalition, but Voltron’s always been against our methods.” Keith scoffed at him. “I don’t believe you.”

 

Keith’s tough guy act was getting on his nerves. He was already feeling terrible just being around Keith again.

 

“Damn it Keith!” He dug through his pockets, pulling out documentation device he’d been given by a Blade before he left. He tossed it at Keith, who caught it easily. “Believe that.”

 

Keith turned it on, the device performing a facial scan to make sure it got to the correct recipient. He read through the letter, his face becoming more and more pinched as he read. He scanned the item using the tech implanted into his left hand to confirm its legitimacy.

 

He let out a heavy breath.

 

“Fine. But we leave my way. We’re not going back through that damn ballroom.”

 

-

 

Keith led the way out of the room, all the way down the fall to a door almost completely hidden in shadow. He opened it and revealed a stairwell leading down, with a few doors lining the right wall and little light. Keith began making his way down, shush in Lance when he tried to ask where they were going.

 

In front of them, a door opened, and a young non-human stepped into the stairwell, flooding it with light. Their eyes flickered to Lance before settling on Keith, a worried look on their face. Lance froze, silently switching the gun hidden in his jacket to stun mode.

 

Keith however, simply gestured to Lance with two fingers then brought them in front of him and making a small up-down motion in the shape of an arch. The non-human's eyes widened, and they flung their arms forward to hug Keith. He patted them with one hand, gently pushing then back through the door when they let go.

 

They continued on, making their way through a backdoor, sneaking off the property of the hall and into an adjacent alley. Lance called the limo around to pick them up and take them to the Voltron headquarters.

 

The ride was tense and quiet, the two men sitting as far away from each other as possible, with Keith refusing to look at him.

 

Lance had turned his comm back on and was yelled at by Pidge for turning his comms unit off, which he didn’t respond to.

 

At HQ, Keith was whisked away by someone working in relations for the Coalition, and Lance was brought in for debriefing.

 

Everyone was at the meeting, including Pidge, who punched him in the arm for turning his comms unit off.

 

Lance explained what happened on the mission, running through almost all the facts. He left out the part about his history with Keith, and made up an excuse for the punch in the face. He wasn’t really ready to talk about that.

 

Shiro nodded at him, asking if he needed to go to the med bay for his face. When Lance said no, they were dismissed, but told to come back in an hour to talk to the new A.R.

 

 

* * *

 

 

An hour later, Lance -in a clean t-shirt and sweatpants- walked into the meeting room, catching the tail end of Keith and Shiro’s hug.

 

Which was fine. They could hug and be friends. It’s just that Shiro was a super buff, attractive, smart, level-headed and hyper loyal guy. But whatever.

 

During the past hour, both he and Keith had changed out of their formal wear. Now, Keith looked more like Lance remembered him. Black shirt, black skinny jeans, and a red hoodie. He had those stupid fingerless gloves on again, and his hair was tied up in a ponytail. Lance decided he liked it better that way.

 

Keith had been smiling before he showed up. Laughing and talking to Shiro in what Lance thought was Japanese. When the doors slid open, Keith turned towards them, his smile turning into a scowl when he spotted Lance.

 

Lance took his seat at the far end of the table, and Shiro called everyone’s attention.

 

“Alright everyone. I would like to introduce you to our new A.R, Keith, codename **Red**.”

 

Keith gave a small wave from where he stood beside Shiro. Hunk smiled and gave a quick “hey”, but both Lance and Pidge were silent.

 

“If you didn’t already know, Keith here is from the Marmora division, he worked as an infiltration agent and is the highest ranked in hand to hand and with close combat weaponry for his own and several other  weight classes.” Shiro picked up a manila folder from the table, flipping through the pages. “He is Marmora’s most efficient fighter pilot, and-”

 

“If he’s so great, why’d the Blades give him to us?”

 

Lance blinked. Everyone was looking at him. Keith was staring at him with widened eyes, looking back and forth between him and Shiro.

 

Truth be told, Lance had not meant to say that out loud. But really, he didn’t want to listen to Shiro point out all those things about Keith.

 

“Well, Lance, Kolivan and I decided that Keith’s skill set would be more useful for Voltron.” Shiro explained, not even looking up from the folder. Keith was staring a Shiro, a look of confusion on his face.

 

Shiro looked up at everyone. “Any other questions?”

 

“Yeah, who are you?” Pidge had turned to look at Keith, scrutinizing him.

 

Keith looked surprised at being addressed, blinking back at her a few times before answering. “I’m the new A.R of this team, Shiro just read you my file.”

 

“Okay, but what’s your deal with Lan-” She was cut off by Hunk’s hand covering her mouth.

 

“But nothing. She just wanted to know if you  were gonna say something different. No more questions.” Hunk smiled at Keith, who gave him a weird look before turning back to Shiro. Lance mouthed a thank you to Hunk, grateful that his best friend had understood when a topic was not to be talked about.

 

“... Okay. Well in that case, you’re all dismissed.”

 

Lance jumped up, wanting to get out of that room as quickly as possible. He sped past Hunk and Pidge, getting to his room as quickly as possible without running.

 

He was going to avoid this problem for as long as possible.

 

 

* * *

 

 

He was told that he had been chosen as a L.R instead of an A.R because he was able to get along with anyone he met. Charm his way into the hearts of whoever was so unlucky as to look him in the eye and give him the time of day.

 

He had been flattered of course. It wasn't just anyone who could take on that job. He _was_ charming, he could definitely do that work.

 

Of course, it hurt that he didn't get the job he had applied for. He'd probably never be an A.R, A.Rs were front liners, always in the thick of things. Highest risk, but the highest reward. The A.Rs were the heroes, they were the ones that people heard about, the one to tell stories about.

 

L.Rs were supposed to be the opposite of that. Subtle. Hidden. They were supposed to be able to blend into a crowd and disappear, or convince the masses to protect them if need be. Less physically demanding, it was something that you had to be born with, unlike being an A.R, to meet the standards of L.Rs you had to have the talent from the get go

 

It seems he didn't even really have that.

 

Keith got along with everyone else. Even with Pidge, who had taken weeks before opening up to Lance, had been smitten in less than a day. During training, everyone was so impressed by Keith’s abilities, commenting on them and asking him questions. It seemed he had charmed everyone.

 

And Lance hadn't even been able to get Keith to look at him.

 

Besides that, Lance couldn't even skulk in the shadows that Keith left. Always doing something wrong, or saying something that would make him stand out and seem off. While Keith could literally stand in a room and become nearly invisible.

 

It was making Lance feel a bit useless. If Keith could so easily fill the role of A.R, as well as work perfectly as an L.R, than what was the point of Lance?

 

 

* * *

 

 

It had been three days since Keith had joined them.

 

It had not been a good three days for Lance.

 

But it was just because he was feeling tired. It didn’t have anything to do with Keith, because that would mean that he hadn’t gotten over him yet.  It wasn’t because he’s had to sit through three days of meetings and bonding sessions with Keith barely acknowledging his presence. It wasn’t because _Every. Time._ he saw Keith and Shiro together, Keith looked so happy. It wasn’t.

 

Because Lance was fine with it. Keith was an adult. He could like who he wanted. It was fine.

 

It was fine. It was fine it was fine it was _fine-_

 

“LANCE! You were supposed to shoot the cable, not alert them to an attack!”

 

He winced, the Pidge’s angry voice crackling in his ear. “Sorry,” he murmured, taking a breath and shooting again. This time, he did hit the cable, cutting clean through it and sending them into darkness.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be a sniper? I’d expect you to be a better shot ‘Sharpshooter’?” He could hear the sarcasm dripping from Keith’s voice.

 

He grit his teeth. It was one shot, so what?! He watched as the others stormed in, providing cover fire as they fought through the room. It was supposed to be more of a stealth mission, but his first shot had alerted the inhabitants of the room to their presence.

 

“What the fuck Lance! You almost hit me!”

 

Lance scoffed. “As if, I’m the best shoot in this entire coalition. If you don’t wanna get hit, stay outta my way.” Shot another enemy. Watched as Keith took out two more.

 

“That guy was right on me! You’re the one that went out of your way to hit it!” Slash. Another enemy down.

 

“Well you’re the one-!”

 

_“End simulation!”_

 

Lance huffed as the dark room faded, being replaced by the plain white walls of the training room. He jumped down from the ledge he was perched on before it retracted back into the wall.

 

“LANCE! KEITH! Get here _now_!”

 

Fuck, Shiro sounded angry.

 

“I’m gonna take a shower,” Pidge called as she walked out of the room.

 

Lance and Keith stood in front of Shiro, far enough away from each other for it to be awkward.

 

Shiro was pinching the bridge of his nose. “Our squadron is supposed to go on a preliminary mission in a week. I dont know what's going on between the two of you, but if you can't figure it out by then, I’ll be forced to either give up the mission or sit one of you out. _Figure it out by then_.” And with that, he walked away, leaving the two of them standing in tense silence.

 

And in silence they stayed for a few seconds, before Lance mumbled out a “...whatever,” and turned for the door.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?”

 

“To take a shower, where do you think? You know, not all of us can deal with being gross all the time.”

 

“We have to deal with this shit between us. You can't pull that shit on a mission, you'll get someone _killed_.”

 

Lance rolled his eyes stopping right in front of the door. Of course he knew that. He turned around. “It's just training! It doesn't actually matter. And you only want to resolve our shit, cuz _Shiro_ told us to.”

 

“Yeah I want to resolve this because Shiro told us to. He’s our team leader if you forgot.”

 

For some reason, hearing that made Lance’s blood hot. “I seem to remember a Keith who didn’t care about authority. Where’d he go?” Lance had walked back over to Keith. They’d both gotten taller over the years, and while Keith had only grown an inch or so, Lance shot up five. He felt oddly smug about that.

 

“That was three years ago, Lance.” His words were strained and came out stilted. Somewhere in the back of Lance’s mind he remembered that Keith’s voice only ever did that when he was really upset. “Things change. We have a commitment to protect people-”

 

“Ha! Like you’ve ever cared about other people.” Lance knew he was being mean. It had been nearly nine years since that was a big problem for Keith, and he knew it was a thing that bothered him, but he said it anyway. He kinda wanted to get punched again.

 

Lance was standing over Keith at this point. They were in a bad spot and Lance couldn't stop his mouth from spewing out all the things he knew would make him upset.

 

“I seem to remember you telling crying people to ‘suck it up’ and ‘get over it’ because it wasn’t that bad. I remember you-”

 

“YOU BROKE UP WITH ME!”And now Keith’s eyes were glossy, and he really wished that Keith hadn’t matured so much. He really wished Keith would just punch him, make him physically hurt so there was something he could blame on him.

 

Keith jeered up at him, jabbing at his chest with a finger. “ _You_ left me, no talk, no note, no _nothing_ . _You_ packed up your bags. _You_ left **_me_ ** ! Don’t you fucking _talk_ to me about caring about people.”

 

Lance’s blood cooled rapidly. In fact, he was pretty sure ice crystals had started to form in his heart.

 

“You left, and when I called your family to ask about you, they wouldn’t talk to me. Or-or they’d call me things saying that I ruined your life.”

 

Lance’s stomach churned. When he’d told his family that they’d broken up, he didn’t give details. They must have assumed the worst, picking Lance’s side even without all the facts.

 

“D’you know what Rachel did last time I saw her? She came up to me at my job, dumped her coffee on me and started yelling at me in spanish. She told me that I had thrown away my chance at a family, and that I had **never** deserved it in the first place. She yelled at me for ten minutes and then left. I got _fired,_ Lance.”

 

Lance could feel the pit in his stomach sinking more. His mind flashed back to all the times that he'd use his own money to pay for basic necessities like food when they were together. He had forgotten how little money Keith had and would be able to make.

 

"I couldn't pay the fucking apartment bills, or pay for food, I couldn't find another job because of the shit your sister spread about me. If Kolivan hadn’t-"

 

Keith turned away and started rubbing at his face. Lance could hear him mumbling “ _fuck_ ,” over and over again to himself.

 

He started walking towards the door. “Keith, wait,” Lance called, but he didn’t turn back. He just walked out of the training room, the doors sliding shut behind him. The silence was deafening.

 

Lance rubbed at his own face. He needed a drink.

 

The doors slid open again. “Uh, what the fuck?”

 

He looked up. It was Pidge. He didn’t respond, just watched her as she walked towards him.

 

“I come back to see if I left my water bottle inhere, an I hear you guys yelling, and then Keith walks out and he’s _crying_. Hell, I didn’t even know his face did emotions other than angry and disinterested. And then you’re in here looking like shit. What the fuck is going on Lance? Who is he?” She stopped in front of him. Her voice was demanding, but her face was concerned.

 

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

 

“Lance-”

 

He held up a hand. “Seriously Pidge, not now, okay?”

 

She didn’t look happy, but when she didn’t make a move to talk again, Lance headed for the doors.

 

He was fine. He was fine, he was fine he was fine fine fine fine **_fine_ **.

 

-

 

(He wasn’t.)

 

-

 

They were called into another meeting about an hour after their training session.

 

“Lance, you’re finally here.” That was Allura. At the moment, she looked older than her 30 odd years of age. That was probably the stress of the daily life. She sounded annoyed.

 

He looked around the room. Everyone was there, including Allura’s personal advisor, Coran. Allura, Shiro, and Coran were all standing at the front of the room, while Hunk, Pidge and Keith were sitting at the table. The only open seat was next to Keith. Lance decided to stand.

 

“Lance take a seat.” The tone of voice Allura had made it obvious that it wasn’t a suggestion.

 

Reluctantly, he sat down, moving the chair farther from Keith. He didn't even acknowledge his presence.

 

"Now, I have been made aware that the state of the team is..." she looked between Keith and Lance. Lance couldn't meet her eyes. "Less than optimal. However, this is the most advanced team under Voltron, and I have a job for you."

 

When no one spoke, Allura turned to the wall and activated the screen. It displayed a blueprint of a building, with the basement highlighted.

 

"This is an underground lab belonging to Galra Industries. We need to be inside their computers, to make sure there is nothing nefarious going on."

 

She turned to look at Keith. "Keith, as our new A.R, you are going to be the one sent into the lab. Pidge?"

 

"Yeah, so," Pidge adjusted her glasses and pulled a little device out of her pocket. It was thin, about the size of the pad of Lance's thumb. With it being light gray and in the shape of a rounded square, Lance guessed that it would blend in very easily if put in a lab. "If you take this, and stick it to the back of any of their consoles, I'll be able to access their databases from here."

 

Keith nodded and took the device, but Lance wasn't satisfied with the plan. "That's all fine and good, but how the heck is he supposed to even get into the building?"

 

"I'm glad you asked, Lance. A week from now, a party will be held in this building. A fundraiser of sorts, but mostly it's a display of power to investors."

 

Allura manipulated the blueprint to show the side of the building. She tapped on the service door and a path outlined in red lit up, leading it's way into the basement. "Hunk, you will be acting as transport. You will pose as one of the waitstaff, and sneak Keith in through the kitchens. From there, Keith you will be able to gain access to the underground labs."

 

She turned to look at Lance again. "Lance. You will also be entering the building, through the front door."

 

Lance raised an eyebrow at that.

 

"As the team's L.R you will be attending the fundraiser as a potential new investor. Your job is to keep an eye on things and make sure there isn't any suspicion surrounding the labs. You are to especially make sure that no news of the heist makes it to Sendak, " she pulled up a picture of a large, stern looking man with and artificial eye. "He is in charge of these facilities, so he is to be kept occupied at all times."

 

Lance nodded. Allura waited for any further questions and nodded when there were none.

 

" Closer to the day we will gather for another meeting, going over the details, but for now, you are all dismissed."

 

 

* * *

 

 

The mission was tomorrow.

 

Lance still has yet to coordinate  with Keith on the mission. He'd spoken to everyone else already, gotten on the same page as everyone else, except for Keith.

 

Everyone else, however, had apparently been able to coordinate with Keith. And quite easily too, if their pitying looks were anything to go by.

 

"Keith!" Lance called out, seeing him walking down the halls.

 

As soon as he saw him, Keith turned and began walking away from him. He even sped up a bit, power walking away.

 

"Oh come on, Keith! We have to talk!" Lance jogged to catch up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

 

Immediately, Keith turned around, harshly shrugging his hand off. "I don't have anything to say to you. Leave me alone."

 

"We need to coordinate before the mission. Or did you forget that we were on the same team?"

 

Keith narrowed his eyes. "We," he gestured between the two of them, "won't be interacting during the mission. We don't have anything to coordinate, so you should leave me alone."

 

He began to walk away again, but Lance pulled him back. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but here in Voltron we coordinate with everyone on the team, not just people we'll be interacting with."

 

"Fine." Keith crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll be going into the lab. You will be attending the party and making sure no one gets suspicious. You will tell me if anyone talks about wanting to go into the labs. There, we coordinated."

 

And with that, Keith walked away. Lance didn't stop him this time.

 

 

* * *

 

 

" **Yellow** , you and **Red** in place?"

 

"Yep, **Red** just checked in and is on his way."

 

That was their code that Keith had gotten into the underground labs without a problem. That was a lot faster than Lance had expected. He had just gotten into the building and grabbed a drink when Pidge got online.

 

Lance smiled at some of the others in attendance, adjusting the Altea tech glasses he had perched on his nose.. Many of them were gorgeous, and usually, Lance would love to go and flirt,  but he kept thinking about how they willingly came to possibly invest in Galra Industries.

 

"Pi-uh, **Green** , can you unlock the door for me?"

 

"Sure, just put your hand on the scanner," there was a pause. "It says that the door is unlocked already, are things okay?"

 

A low hum came through the comms. Lance shivered, it sounded like he was right over his shoulder. His stomach turned. He put the drink down.

 

"I don't know… it just opened."

 

"Well, we'll talk about it later, continue with your mission."

 

"Roger that."

 

Lance saw a group of people mingling closer to the food. He walked over and started to engage with the other patrons. He wasn't even paying attention to what he was saying, working on autopilot as he listened in to the mission.

 

"Alright, I'm in. Connecting right now."

 

Keith had gotten the device placed. The mission was basically complete at this point. All they had to do was wait for the okay and get out.

 

"I'm connected. **Red** , wipe everything down and get out, the cameras will be going up in 20."

 

"Yes ma'am."

 

"Darling," a hand landed on his shoulder.

 

"Yes?" He turned to see a blue skinned non human blinking at him.

 

"Have you had the chance to meet the host yet? A gorgeous boy like you, he wouldl be delighted to meet you."

 

Lance felt his smile become strained. "No, I have, really. Besides, I’d much rather spend my time with you.”

 

The non human blushed navy. “Alright, then spend time with me.”

 

And he did. He spent 15 or so minutes chatting and mingling with the blue skinned alien. It was a lot of fun, actually. The alien was very engaging, almost to the point where Lance forgot about the mission.

 

“Shit.”

 

“ **Red** , what’s the problem?”

 

“ **Yellow** , where’d you store my clothes?”

 

“They’re… shit, I left them on the truck.”

 

“Well can you get them? I can’t leave here looking like this.”

 

“No, sorry, I’m currently occupied. Let’s just hope **Blue** is listening.”

 

Lance grimaced. Well, looks like he’s up.

 

“Darling, are you alright? Your face looks… odd”

 

Lance smiled at the blue skinned non human. “Yeah, everything’s fine, I just need to get some fresh air. I’ll be right back.” He stepped away from the alien and headed toward the doors. He turned on his mic as he got outside. “ **Yellow** , where’s the truck?”

 

“To the right of the front entrance, just bring it in through the service doors. No one will question you if you walk fast enough.”

 

“Roger that.”

 

Lance made his way around to the service doors, locating the truck that Hunk and Keith had arrived in. It was a supplies truck, and thankfully, the back was still partially open. He quietly widened the gap and slipped inside, closing the door as he went. With the back door shut, the truck was pitch black, so he activated the flashlight on his glasses. The truck was full of different ingredients, most of which he couldn’t recognize, nor name. Lance took a deep breath and began to search for the hidden clothes.

 

It didn’t take long for him to be able to locate the hidden package. Among sacks of some tuber type vegetable was a bag that looked almost identical to the others, aside from the fact that with his glasses he was able to pick up the very faint marking of the Voltron symbol.

 

“Bingo.”

 

He grabbed the bag, searching through it to make sure everything was in order before he left the truck.

 

No one was outside at this time, allowing him to easily walk out of the truck, leaving the door open as much as he remembered it being. The service door was wide open, letting air into the building. Lance began to quickly walk towards the door, holding the bag of clothes and lifting his head up high. He tried to exuded as much confidence as possible.

 

The service doors led into the kitchen, and straight in front of him was another set of doors leading deeper into the building. He kept his focus on the two doors in front of him, and continued on. Once he was out of the kitchens he took a slower gait. There were less people to question him in this hall. Lance had seen the blueprints, so he had some idea of the basic area that Keith would be in, but he didn’t know for sure.

 

“ **Red** , I’ve got your clothes, where are you?”

 

Pidge answered him. “From your current position, he’s down the hall to the left. Find the door that says ‘restricted’.”

 

“Got it.”

 

He half-jogged down the hall, reading the words on all of the doors. He had to move a bit slower than he would have liked, having to wait for his glasses to translate the text on all of the doors. Finally he got to the door saying ‘restricted’.

 

He knocked. “ **Red** , open up it’s me.”

 

A hand shot out from behind the door and made a grabbing motion. Lance handed the bag over and then leaned up against the wall. Two minutes later the door opened again and Keith slipped out. He was dressed in the uniform of the other servers that Lance had seen in the main room.

 

Someone let out a breath over the comms. “Just in time guys, the cameras are up.”

 

“Thanks,” Keith said, wiping his hands down on his pants. He wouldn’t look Lance in the eye.

 

“No problem. Let’s get out of here before someone-”

 

Just as he spoke, Keith put a hand over his mouth and backed him into the wall. Lance was surprised at first, but then he heard them.

 

Footsteps.

 

From the sound of them, whoever was heading down this way would be on them in only a few seconds. Lance looked down the hall opposite from where the footsteps were coming from. Dead end. This was really bad. There was no reason that a guest and a server should be together in an empty hall like this. Unless…

 

The footsteps were getting closer. Keith had dropped his hand from Lance’s mouth and was preparing himself to fight.

 

Lance reached out his hand and grabbed the side of Keith’s face.

 

“Just go with it,” he murmured as he brought Keith’s face to his own. Lance’s other hand wrapped around his waist pulling him in closer. He closed his eyes as he kissed Keith.

 

Keith stiffened up for a split second before playing along, putting his hands up in Lance’s hair and kissing back. It felt as if they had never stopped. Their mouths found each other as if it hadn’t been three years since they’d last been together.

 

The footsteps stopped. Lance’s body began to tense up, but Keith swiped his tongue over his bottom lips and dug his fingers into his hair and he went lax again. The footsteps started retreating, the echo of them fading off until they couldn’t be heard again.

 

Keith pulled away. His hair was mused and his face was pink. His lips were slightly swollen and slicked with spit. Lance really wanted to kiss him again. He could see that Keith was looking at him in the same way, his eyes darting between Lance’s eyes and his lips. Lance saw that tongue dart out and swipe over Keith’s bottom lip. Lance could feel himself leaning forward again.

 

Keith pushed away from Lance, breaking all contact. He cleared his throat, grabbing the bag with his other clothes. “We have to leave,” he said, not turning back to Lance. He began walking back in the direction of the kitchens, leaving Lance alone with his thoughts.

 

Lance wiped at his mouth, and took a deep breath.

 

He was fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Uhm, I don't know how I wanna format this, but I'm planning on having at least one other fic in this series, which will be from Keith's perspective, and i want to have more parts in Lance's perspective. I don't know if i want to continue in this fic and make this a multi chaptered fic, or if i want to do several oneshot type things for this. We'll see what I feel like doing, but I might not even continue this AU at all, so don't get your hopes up.  
> -Kit


End file.
